Empire State University’s Associate Degree Initiative Uplifts Student Goals
(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — March 4, 2025) Empire State University is now awarding associate degrees to eligible bachelor’s degree-seeking students to recognize their progress and advance their personal and professional goals. The university’s Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) announced that students who are working towards earning their bachelor’s degree and have completed the required coursework will be awarded an Associate of Science (A.S.) degree in general studies. This interdepartmental initiative aims to recognize the hard work of eligible students through granting associate degrees, which studies have shown significantly boost income possibilities and the likelihood of completing a bachelor’s degree.
The Registrar’s Office was vital to identifying the 700 students estimated to be eligible for the initiative at Empire State University. For active students to be awarded an associate degree, they must have not previously earned any kind of degree offered by the university. Other eligibility requirements include having transfer credit, meeting the 12-credit minimum residency required for the general studies program, maintaining a GPA of 2.0 or greater, and being free of student account holds. After the initial group of eligible students was identified, university Registrar Pam Enser manually combed through each student’s degree audit for the A.S. general studies program requirements, which are having met all general education and liberal arts credit requirements in addition to the previously stated eligibility requisites.
Students whose eligibility has been determined by the Registrar’s Office have been notified so they may opt into receiving their associate degree. “Going forward, we are going to continue to pull that list and review students every term,” comments Enser, “and for new students coming in, if they have not earned another degree, have transfer credit, and are applying for a bachelor’s degree, they have the opportunity to identify upon admission that they also want to earn the associate degree.” So far, 248 students have been awarded an associate degree through this initiative.
Not many four-year universities choose to award associate degrees, which is one of the unique traits of Empire State University’s initiative. “We have it baked into our offerings already, so that is what enables us to do this,” says Rob Sanders, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), individuals working full-time with an associate degree statistically earn almost 20% more than those who only have a high school diploma, which is a significant benefit of opting into the initiative. Sanders also explains, “There are millions of adults who have some college, no credential. It’s because that threshold of earning a bachelor’s degree is relatively high—an associate degree is basically half of that. It’s a credential that they can earn much sooner to get better jobs, higher pay—and is an [academic] incentive.”
Another of the initiative’s appeals lies in its convenience: eligible students can opt-in without any additional steps, as the initiative recognizes the work they have already completed on the road to earning their bachelor’s degree.